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[APRIL 25, 1907 
vention on a large scale. Those men who possessed a 
scientific foundation were, in their turn, compelled to 
learn the technical side of their profession by dint of 
practice, just as the tailor has to learn the art of making 
clothes and the barber the art of shaving. A man of 
scientific attainments had certainly, even in the olden 
times, a clear advantage over the mere ‘‘ practical man.”’ 
But many branches of manufacturing, which undoubtedly 
have a chemical basis, and in which to-day a: large number 
of chemists are actually employed, were formerly carried 
on in a purely empirical manner, like any handicraft, for 
instance, soap-making, tanning, brewing—indeed, all 
those industries which are connected with food—and 
above all, dyeing and tissue-printing. But towards the 
middle of the last century we perceive the commencement 
of a scientific treatment of those industries. Even before 
then, the genius of Chevreul had thrown a flood of light 
on the chemical behaviour of fatty substances, and Persoz 
followed in the domain of dyeing fabrics. The cooperation 
of the various arts and sciences was distinctly promoted 
by the technical high schools in France, Germany, and 
Switzerland. 
In Great Britain the chemical industries had from the 
first taken their full share in the astounding development 
of all branches of industry which in this country has for 
several centuries enjoyed an uninterrupted peace, whilst 
continental Europe was lacerated by frequent wars. Thus 
Great Britain had a long lead in all the fields of commerce 
and industry. 
Some of the most important of the chemical industries 
have, indeed, altogether originated in this country, 
especially that of sulphuric acid and that of chloride of 
lime, both of which date back as far as the eighteenth 
century. But it is only fair to remember that some of the 
most important improvements in these manufactures are 
due to French inventors and French men of science. To 
France we owe the invention of the Leblanc process, which 
could not be at once introduced into this country, owing 
to the fact that common salt was burdened with an abso- 
lutely prohibitive excise duty. The abolition of this tax 
in 1523 acted like the wave of a magic wand, not merely 
in calling into life the manufacture of alkali itself, but 
by giving a strong impetus to all the chemical industries 
connected therewith, viz. those of sulphuric, hydrochloric, 
and nitric acid. Almost immediately the tide of inventions 
and improvements set in, and a few decades later we find 
Great Britain absolutely dominant, not merely in the 
branches just mentioned, but generally in the field of 
inorganic chemical industries. For many years, up to 
1870 about, this predominance was not seriously called 
into question. 
In this manner inorganic chemical industry was 
developed in Great Britain up to the middle of last century 
to a greater extent than in any other country, by men 
like the Muspratts, Tennant, Gossage, Dunlop, Chance, 
and many others. Most of them were neither studied 
chemists nor engineers, but in their school any theoretically 
educated chemist could immensely profit for the work of 
factory-manager. 
In close connection with this state of matters we find 
in England among the greatest inventors men who, at 
the outset, did not even possess a routine knowledge of 
the field in which they achieved their later successes, and 
who were altogether ‘‘ outside the profession,’’ like Walter 
Weldon, Henry Bessemer, Sydney Gilchrist Thomas. 
Peculiar to England is also the case of William Henry 
Perkin, who, at the early age of sixteen, entered Hof- 
mann’s laboratory in London. Two years afterwards he 
discovered the colouring matter called ‘*‘ mauve,’’ the 
forerunner of all colours produced from coal-tar; and 
only a year later he built a factory for producing his 
mauve, which at once proved a ‘success and laid the 
foundation for his splendid work in after life. 
One of the great problems presented to applied chemistry 
in the last century, at which many inventors in all in- 
dustrial countries have been working, was the utilisation 
of ** alkali-waste.’’ The first partial success in this direc- 
tion was scored in 1861 by Ludwig Mond and by Max 
Schaffner. One of the first patents referring to it was 
taken out in 1837 by Gossage. He quite rightly recog- 
nised a.number of the conditions necessary for realising 
NO. 1956, VOL. 75] 
that reaction, but, unfortunately, not all of them. It soon 
became manifest that there were unforeseen difficulties 
not yet overcome. The missing links in the process were 
only discovered in 1883 and 1887, and led to the appli- 
cation of that process at all the Leblane works. ‘This 
final success is connected with the names of Carl Friedrich 
Claus and of Alexander Chance. 
Many German chemists (as well as the speaker him- 
self) at that time came to England for their practical 
education, for instance, Caro, Pauli, Martius, Peter Griess, 
and Ludwig Mond. The two last-named have permanently 
associated themselves with this country, whilst the three 
first-named, as well as many other German chemists who 
had found a temporary home in England, returned later 
on to their own country, and these very men have been 
in the forefront of those to whom is due the remarkable 
development of German chemical industry. 
Formerly the German professor, as well as his students, 
had been frequently held up to ridicule, not merely abroad, 
but at home as well, as idealistic dreamers, unsuited to 
the wants of real life and to the requirements of trade 
and manufacture, and in this there was only too much 
truth, so long as they were not in intimate touch with 
men of practice. But at last an amalgamation between 
these two classes of men took place. Within a very few 
years there arose those enormous establishments at 
Ludwigshafen, Hochst, Elberfeld, Berlin, Darmstadt, and 
elsewhere, which are conducted on a scientific basis, but 
with the most extensive utilisation of all the attainments 
of manufacturing experience. Austria, France, Switzer- 
land, Belgium, and America have all made immense 
strides in that direction. And what of Great Britain? 
Seeing that in pure science the people of Great Britain 
have never lagged behind any other nation, and that, on 
the contrary, the land of Newton and Faraday has been 
a beacon to all others at more than one epoch, there is 
absolutely no valid reason why she should now, or at 
any other time, be behind any other in the combination 
of science with practice. 
The history of the ammonia-soda process has been 
directly contrary to so many others. It was invented by 
two Englishmen, Dyar and Hemming, in 1838, who did 
not succeed in the practical application of their invention, 
nor did their numerous successors meet with any better 
fortune. A Belgian engineer, Ernest Solvay, found the 
first economical solution of that problem, and_ the 
economical superiority of the ammonia over the Leblanc 
process soon became evident. This was brought home to 
English manufacturers by the success of the firm of 
Brunner, Mond and Co. The Leblanc process, and the 
enormous sums of money invested in it, seemed even then 
doomed to speedy extinction. But for a time, at least, 
this calamity was averted by the perseverance with which 
the British alkali makers kept making improvements in 
the Leblane process. The prolongation of its life is due 
to the fact that in the first stage of the process an 
important acid is produced, which is not furnished by 
the ammonia process, viz. hydrochloric acid. Most of this 
is immediately converted into chlorine, which gas is used 
up for preparing bleaching powder, bleach liquors, and 
chlorates. Of these, bleaching powder is a British in- 
vention, made by the Glasgow chemist, Tennant; but, 
apart from this, the manufacture of chlorine and of all 
chlorine products has been put on its practical basis almost 
entirely by English inventors, and has been developed 
more extensively in this country than anywhere else in 
the world. But this last entrenchment of the Leblanc 
process is being vigorously assaulted from another quarter 
—hby the electrolytic processes, which split up the alkaline 
chlorides directly, and in the simplest possible manner, 
into free chlorine and caustic alkali. 
Even now it is only quite exceptional that, wherever 
the electrical current has to be produced by means of 
steam, electrochemical methods can compete with the older 
ones for the manufacture of what is called ‘“* heavy 
chemicals.’’? Just those two European countries which are 
the greatest producers of coal, Great Britain and Germany, 
are less favoured by nature in respect of water-power 
than other countries which possess little or no stores of 
mineral fuel, as Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, France, 
Italy, and Spain. A very different condition of affairs 
